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eMOLT Update 2025-03-07
Weekly Recap
This week, we welcome the F/V Evelyn and Isabel and the F/V Capt John
to the eMOLT program. Thanks to Captain Robert, Captain Dane, and the
teams from Ocean Data Network and Rutgers University for getting the
systems installed. Owen from the Center for Coastal Studies is also down
at the docks in New Bedford to wrap up installation aboard the F/V
Stella Jane as I type this.
A big thanks also to Linus at Commercial Fisheries Research
Foundation, Capt. Mike on the F/V Mister G, Capt. Aaron on the F/V
Tradition, Owen at the Center for Coastal Studies, and the whole team at
Lowell Instruments for your work this week on identifying and developing
solutions for what we thought were two different firmware bugs. These
bugs manifest as loggers that are unable to be read by the deckbox or
any other bluetooth sniffer, so if your logger suddenly stops
communicating, please reach out.
Thanks also to Carles at Ocean Data Network for his tireless work on
maintaining and upgrading the eMOLT data pipeline. This
cyber-infrastructure carries environmental data from your vessels back
to our servers, anonymizes it, QAQCs it, and makes the data accessible
to the forecasters and stock assessment scientists who use it.
Jim Tripp, a longtime eMOLT participant out of Spruce Head Maine,
mailed in his last Minilog probe this past week. He has been deploying
them year round in the deep waters (~62 fathoms or 115 meters) for
nearly a quarter century! See plot below. Fortunately, his son John is
now interested in taking up the duty with a realtime system.

Figure 1 – 23 years of bottom temperature records courtesy of
eMOLT participant Jim Tripp, captain of the F/V Outer Fall. Note that
2024 is much cooler than 2023 in the spring, but is not anomalously cold
compared with the full spread of data.
We continue to assess how recent actions by the administration will
impact the eMOLT program moving forward. We expect to experience
continued capacity issues, particularly around data product development
and contracting as a result of last week’s “staffing
changes”, so thank you for your patience. We’re also
waiting for further information about how changes to the contracting
process as a result of an
executive order signed on February 26 may affect the program. One of
the strengths of the eMOLT Program is our network of external
collaborators including non-profits, fishing industry organizations, and
blue tech companies. However, many of those relationships are formalized
through contracts, and this executive order introduces some uncertainty
into what is normally a relatively straightforward – if painfully
bureaucratic – process.
This week, the eMOLT fleet recorded 328 tows of sensorized fishing
gear totaling 720 sensor hours underwater. The warmest recorded bottom
temperature was 50.2 F near Atlantis Canyon in approximately 67 fathoms
(red profile) and the coldest recorded bottom temperature was 30.7 F in
Cape Cod Bay in approximately 6 fathoms (blue profile). Below, you can
see these profiles plus a few other temperature profiles of interest
across the region from the last week.

Figure 2 – Temperature profiles collected by eMOLT participants
over the last week. The blue profile is where the coldest bottom
temperature was measured and the red profile is where the warmest bottom
temperature was measured. All other colors are assigned randomly.
Colored points on the map indicate where profiles of the same color were
collected. The small dark green dots represent other profiles collected
this week, but not highlighted in the plot. Note that the warmest /
coldest bottom temperatures measured could have occurred during gear
soaks, which are not represented on this profile plot.
eMOLT in the News

Figure 3 – Transits of a sea scallop fishing vessel that departs
from Barnegat Light, NJ and heads for open area bottom (shown as an “X”)
on Georges Bank. With the Vessell Monitoring System (VMS) Demarcation
Line (black dashed line), U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ; solid black
line), and 2024 sea scallop rotational access areas (blue polygons)
shown. In A), the vessel attempts to maximize its limited DAS allocation
by declaring out of the fishery before transiting (yellow line) to the
edge of the VMS Demarcation Line off Nantucket, before redeclaring a
fishing trip and heading for the open area target (red line). B), an
idealized scenario in which the vessel can head directly to the open
area target (green line) without concern for maximizing DAS or avoiding
transit through the New York Bight access area. Courtesy of Coonamessett
Farm Foundation

Figure 4 – Noah Van Horne works on a temperature, depth, and
orientation profiling logger in the workshop area of Lowell Instruments
in East Falmouth on February 19, 2025. Lowell Instruments has been hired
to manufacture data loggers that will collect bottom water temperature
and dissolved oxygen readings. The program gives fishermen and
scientists a look at what’s happening in the water, not just on top of
it. Photo: Merrily Cassidy / Cape Cod Times
- Rhode
Island’s ‘Squid Squad’ targeted in DOGE purge of NOAA As I mentioned
a few weeks ago, one of the most promising partnerships the eMOLT
Program developed in the last few years was with the “Squid Squad” a
group of NOAA scientists, academics, and fishermen who met weekly to
share observations from satellites, oceanographic instruments, and
fishing operations. In its short run, the Squid Squad successfully
cleared a path for fishermen to participate in the stock assessment
process and published peer-reviewed papers with fishermen as co-authors.
This article from the Rhode Island Current describes impacts that
program is experiencing from last week’s “staffing
changes”.
System Hardware Upgrade List
The following vessels remain on our list for hardware upgrades. If
you aren’t on the list and think you should be, please reach out.
Note that this list is different from our new install
queue.
- F/V Kaitlyn Victoria
- F/V Kyler C
- F/V Noella C
- F/V Sea Watcher I
Bottom Temperature Forecasts
Doppio
This week, 87.5% of bottom temperature observations were within 2
degrees (F) of the Doppio forecasted value at those points, with strong
agreement along the northern edge of Georges Bank and around Cape
Cod.

Figure 5 – Performance of the Doppio forecast’s bottom
temperature layer over the last week relative to observations collected
by eMOLT participants. Red dots indicate areas where bottom temperature
observations were warmer that predicted. Blue dots indicate areas where
bottom temperature observations were cooler than predicted. Bottom
temperature observations are compared with the most recent forecast run
available before the observation was made.

Figure 6 – The most recent Doppio bottom temperature forecast.
The gray line is the 50 fathom line and the black line is the hundred
fathom line. Purple shades indicate cooler water.
Northeast Coastal Ocean Forecast System

Figure 7 – The most recent bottom temperature forecast from the
Northeast Coastal Ocean Forecast System GOM7 model. The gray line is the
50 fathom line and the black line is the hundred fathom line. Purple
shades indicate cooler water.

Figure 8 – The most recent bottom temperature forecast from the
Northeast Coastal Ocean Forecast System MassBay model. Purple shades
indicate cooler water.
Other News from the Region
The
American lobster’s baby bust. An article from Canada’s National
Observer including an interview with Josh Carloni of the NH Fish and
Game Dept.
Gettin’
Jiggy Developing a New Fisheries Survey. In fisheries biologist
Lindsey Nelson’s new blog, she shares what goes into creating a
completely new cooperative research fisheries survey. Last year, she and
others in our Cooperative Research Branch worked with fishermen in our
region to develop and test a new survey to sample fish safely and
effectively around heavily developed offshore areas where traditional
survey gears can’t.
Announcements
Sea Scallop Industry Workshops Coming Up in March
NOAA scientists are collaborating with scallop fishermen, the
Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation, and the University of
Connecticut to understand changing oceanographic conditions, impacts on
scallop fishing communities, and what we can do to adapt. This is a
continuation of a series of stakeholder workshops that began in 2021.
The 2025 workshops will be in late March in New Bedford MA (3/24),
Gloucester Point VA (3/27) and Barnegat Light NJ (3/28). Please check
out this
website for more info.
Contribute to the 2026 Management Track Fishery Stock
Assessments
The Northeast Fisheries Science Center seeks input from our regional
assessment partners, including the fishing industry (commercial and
recreational), state agency scientists, academic researchers, and
interested members of the public to help guide development of our next
Management
Track Assessments.
Specifically, the NEFSC is looking for on-the-water observations or
data sets on topics such as distribution, stock health, fishing dynamics
and management, and the role these stocks play in the ecosystem.
June 2026 Management Track Stocks include
- Atlantic herring
- Butterfish
- Georges Bank Atlantic cod
- Georges Bank haddock
- Longfin inshore squid
- Ocean quahog
Disclaimer
The eMOLT Update is NOT an official NOAA document. Mention of
products or manufacturers does not constitute an endorsement by NOAA or
Department of Commerce. The content of this update reflects only the
personal views of the authors and does not necessarily represent the
views of NOAA Fisheries, the Department of Commerce, or the United
States.
All the best,
-George and JiM
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